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REPORT TO THE 

Executive Committee 



THE TUXEDO CLUB, 



From the Committee Appointed to Examine into the original His- 
torical Names of the Tuxedo Region ; Together with a 
copy of the Manuscript Map of this portion of 
New York and New Jersey, made for Wash- 
ington in the years 1778-1779. 



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THE TUXKDO CLUB, 



From the Committee Appointed to Examine into the Original Historical Names of 

the Tuxedo Region ; Together with a copy of the Manuscript Map 

of this portion of New York and New Jersey, made 

for Washington in the years 1778-1779. 



The first subject of inquiry was the possible meaning or deriva- 
tion of the name Tuxedo. 

The earhest mention of the name occurs in Sargeant's survey 
of 1754, where it is referred to as Tuxedo Pond. In Ryerson's 
survey of 1765 it is set down as Tuxcito Pond. In Morris's tes- 
timony upon the State hne in 1769, it is written Tuxetough, and 
in Chesecock's patent of the same year, it is Tucksito. In Ryer- 
son's second survey of 1774, it appears as both Tugseto and 
Tucsedo. Erskine, in his survey of 1778-79, writes it Tuxedo, 
Texedo and Toxedo. The Marquis de Chastellux, in 1780, writes 
it Duck Sider. And in Eager's and Ruttenber's histories of this 



tract, written respectively in 1847 and 1875, the name is corrupted 
to Duck Cedar, with the explanation that its margin is overgrown 
with cedars, and that it is a favorite haunt of wild ducks. 

The name as found in 1754 is, undoubtedly, the corruption of 
one or more Indian words. The language of the Algonquins, who 
occupied this region, was examined. It is found that the letter x, 
being unknown in this dialect, is represented in the fragments that 
remain by ks. It is also found that to or ioi/g^h mean " a place." 
The best authorities upon the language of the Algonquins have 
found that the name Tuxedo, no matter how spelled, contains no 
elements that mean pond, lake, or water ; nor can the word or any 
of its variants be made to mean anything like "beautiful view," as 
has been stated. 

It was suggested that a frequent habit of the Indians was to 
name a place after the chief whose tribe occupied it, and this clew 
being taken up, mention was discovered of a sachem named 
P'tauk-Seet, "thebear," who, in the seventeenth century, ruled over 
a tract of country including Tuxedo. Uniting his name with tough, 
the Algonquin for place, we should infer the original spelling to 
have been P'tauk-Seet-tough, and its meaning " The Home of the 
Bear." 

Another surmise is that, as the forest called " The Greenwood,'' 
and lying westward of Tuxedo, was occasionally the refuge of 
bears, the district may have received from the Indians the appella- 
tion, " Place of Bears." 



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The first settlement at Tuxedo was made at the northern 
extremity of the lake. Prior to 1765, a wood-cutter named Hasen- 
clever inclosed a ten-acre tract lying equally on both sides of the 
outlet. On a survey, made in 1778, is shown his inclosure and 
the dam built by him, and also the position of the house situated 
fifty yards northeasterly from the dam, and built by a man named 
Howard, who was probably " the original settler." 

During the Revolution, when the iron works on the Ramapo 
were liable to interruption by the British, Hasenclever's dam was 
raised several feet, and the overflow turned southwest to supply 
the Ringwood furnaces in New Jersey. During this period, Tuxedo 
Lake was the resort of a band of cow-boys, who at times found 
shelter among some rocks which they named after their leader, 
" Claudius Smith's Cave." 

The first description of this section is written by the Marquis 
de Chastellux, a French officer who came to America with Lafay- 
ette, and who, on December 19th, 1780, following the Continental 
road through the gorge south of the lake, then called -' The Clove," 
presently came in view of Tuxedo. He mentions that at Ring- 
wood he stopped to ask his way, and that at Erskine's house they 
gave him full information about the roads and wood-paths, and 
also " a glass of Madeira, in accordance with a custom of the 
country, which will not allow you to leave a house without tak- 
ing something." Having been thus refreshed, he says : 

*' I got on horseback and penetrated afresh into the woods. 



mounting and descending precipitous hills until I found myself at 
the edge of a lake so secluded that it is hardly visible from the 
surrounding thicket. Its banks are so steep that if a deer made a 
false step on the top, he would infallibly roll into the lake. This 
lake, which is not marked upon the charts, and is called Duck 
Sider, is about three miles long and two miles wide (sic !) and is in 
the wildest and most deserted country I have yet passed through. 
My poetic imagination was enjoying the solitude, when, at a dis- 
tance, I perceived in an open spot a quadruped, which a nearer 
observation showed to be not the elk or caribou, for which I at 
first mistook him, but a horse grazing peaceably in a field belong 
ing to a new settlement." 

As regards amendments to some of the names now in use, it is 
proposed that the original names be restored where practicable. 

ist. That the gorge extending southward from the lake be 
called " The Clove," by which it was known a century ago. 

2d. That the hiding place of the Revolutionary cow-boys receive 
again its appellation, " Claudius Cave," and that at some convenient 
opportunity it be rendered accessible by a wood path. 

2)d. That some fragment of the road traversed by Washington 
and his army be preserved under the name of " The Continental 
Road," as a promenade near the club-house. 

^tli. That the name of " Grub Creek" be changed to " Steinval- 
letje," meaning " Rocky Ravine." 

^th. That a position about midway between the southern ex- 



tremity of the lake and Fishwarden's Point, at which locality Chas- 
tellux must first have seen the lake, be cleared and provided with 
rustic benches ; that several cuts radiating from it be made through 
the trees; so as to give glimpses over the lake, and that this spot 
be called " Chastellux." 

W. W. ASTOR. 



